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I want to talk about the process that gets a person to accept music into their life. They are many traps awaiting the potential hobbyist. The first one being that everybody knows what it is to be a musician. At any level. Anyone can tell you what being a musician is. Even if youRead More

I teach two kinds of students, mainly. The kind that is pro, and the kind that is not a pro and needs to understand how to make room for music in her life. This blog is about the second kind. The ones that will eventually make music their hobby. So, here goes a typical script.Read More

A written classical music piece of music must be played exactly. That’s the premise. The composer worte the notes, you have to play them. All of them. And, you do not mess with the notes. What the composer has written, you play. Nothing less, nothing more. Right! I’llRead More

I am thinking about Chopin, Johann Sebastian Bach or Mozart. They made the effort to pass on their knowledge to the next generation. Bach, famously, wrote a whole book for his wife, some very simple pieces that every piano student has studied at a moment or another. Mozart alsoRead More

Vinnie Colaiuta is regarded as one of the best drummers of our times and with reasons! This guy actually played on a heavy metal album with Megadeth and a week later recorded a jazz big band album with Paul Anka.  Very few in the drumming world are able to change their hat andRead More

One of the obvious challenge of learning any new instrument is discipline. A typical scenario goes like this: We watch a marvelous drummer or piano player, we are in awe at the mastery of the player, the flow, the command he has over his craft. We mull that bit for awhile insideRead More

There are all kinds of students. Sometimes you get the novice, sometimes you get the pro. You never know what’s in the box of chocolate. But, the ones that are truly fascinating (the students, not the chocolates), are the ones who claim to have no rhythm. What is a drum teacherRead More

Something I pondered. I was looking for a watch. I saw the brand Hamilton, supposedly a reputable American icon… but it’s made in Switzerland now. I got one, nonetheless. It ticks and tocks all right. I would have preferred if it was American though. I got it before IRead More

There is not one way of teaching. There are not two ways either. I think there are a thousand ways of teaching piano or drums. To me, the fascinating part is this: trying to adjust according to the personality and wishes of the student. And I want to adjust so that we meet, soRead More

I just saw a band called Lighting bolt. The drummer is Brian Chippendale. He has a very strong personality. I would even say he’s crazy. Good crazy. Great crazy. He plays loudly on one of these garbage drums made out of some rotten material. He is fast, obnoxious, he throwsRead More